Machines may be used to move heavy loads, such as earth, construction material, and/or debris, and may include, for example, a wheel loader, an excavator, a front shovel, a bulldozer, a backhoe, and a telehandler. Such machines may utilize an object such as a work implement to move the heavy loads. Machines may power work implements by a hydraulic system that uses pressurized fluid to actuate one or more hydraulic actuators to move the work implement. During operation of the machine, the implement may be raised to an elevated position. As the implement may be relatively heavy, the implement may gain potential energy when raised to the elevated position. As a result, machines that utilize hydraulic systems often include energy recovery systems to recover or recycle the energy associated with releasing the implement from the elevated position. Recovering that lost or otherwise wasted potential energy for reuse may improve work machine efficiency.
One system designed to recover or recycle the energy associated with lowering a load is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,823,379 to Hamkins, et al. (“Hamkins”). Hamkins discloses a hydraulic circuit including master and slave actuators as part of a boom circuit, a swing circuit, a pair of pumps for supplying fluid to the circuits, an accumulator, a valve that controls flow between the accumulator an the slave actuator, and a valve that controls flow directly from the pump to the accumulator. That is, flow between the slave actuator and the accumulator is controlled by a single valve.